The 70s, a Porsche decade

One can argue that the 70’s were the Porsche decade. The company’s cars won Le Mans for the first time (and then four additional times), won hundreds (if you consider class wins, thousands) of races in all corners of the world, by that meaning every continent, dozens of championships, including world championships. A number of types represented the company in such wins: several versions of the 917, 908, 911, Carrera, 934, 914, 935, 936 won major races, even the old 910 and 907 could be called upon to win an occasional minor race. Porsches dominated at times not only the World Makes Championship, but also Can Am, Interserie, European GT Championship, DRM, IMSA, Trans Am. Porsches won domestic championships in the USA, Germany, Netherlands, Benelux, Italy, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Sweden and other countries. A Porsche Carrera was also the first turbo car to win a World Championship race, which also happened to be the last Targa Florio valid for the world championship. Porsches also won in hillclimbs, rally, autocross. This level of success was sustained throughout the decade – as the 917 was the dominating force in the 1970 Makes Championship and Le Mans, the 935 was doing the winning in 1979. Porsche cars comprised most Le Mans starters during the decade, sometimes, well over half of the field. Porsche quite simply ruled endurance racing all over the world, from Japan to Senegal and the USA.   

Curiously, there was no Porsche representation in Formula 1 during the 70`s, in any shape or form. While Porsche Formula 2 cars ran sporadically in the 50’s, a bona fide Porsche Formula 1 ran and won in the 1.5 formula of the 60’s, the TAG Porsche engine ran and conquered Formula 1 in the 80’s and there was even an ill-fated Porsche-Footwork tie up in the 90’s, Porsche was absent from the Formula 1 scene, even though the 908 Porsche was equipped with a 3-liter power plant, excellent for endurance but insufficiently powerful for Formula 1.

To find out a bit more about Porsche’s achievements in the 70’s, you may consider acquiring my book Motor Racing in the 70’s – Pivoting from Romantic to Organized.Much more information about racing in the 70's can be found in my book MOTOR RACING IN THE 70'S - PIVOTING FROM ROMANTIC TO ORGANIZED. It is a 472-page book about racing in the period,  with 242 photos, covering Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 5000, other lower formulae, Formula Indy, NASCAR, Touring Cars, Sports Cars, Can Am, Trans Am, IMSA, DRM, local racing scenes, main driver profiles, plus long lists of makes that raced in the period, main drivers and racing venues from 85 countries, year highlights, performance and financial analysis of the sport. It can be bought at Amazon shops in the USA, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia, Japan, 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426

On the matter of racing sponsors in Formula 1 and elsewhere

Cigarette manufacturers spent billions of dollars in automobile racing, starting in 1968. Back in the 1800’s, cigarettes were sold as healthy items – believe it or not, good for the lungs! By the way, that was the approach used to introduce cigarettes to the Chinese market in the latter part of the century. Soon the medical profession caught on with tobacco’s twisted rationale, but as the multi-billion dollar industry has always involved money and power all over the world, cigarettes are still sold freely all over, but advertising it has become impossible. It was not entirely so back in 1968, although there were some prohibitions in certain medias and certain countries. That was the very reason why cigarette manufacturers embraced racing with gusto, specially because direct tobacco advertising was prohibited in TV almost universally. As racing became more of a TV product, it became a very useful advertising medium for cigarette advertisers, almost the only way their brands could appear on an ever more relevant and influential platform. With time we got used to seeing Marlboro and Gitanes sponsored Formula 1 cars without signage in races such as the British and German Grand Prix. Eventually, cigarette sponsorship has become universally outlawed.

Now, we see logos of the likes of Martini and Chandon omitted from Formula 1 cars in the Abu Dhabi and Bahrain Grand Prix. I have not quite understood why the Singha logo is allowed to appear on Ferrari, for Singha is Thailand’s main beer brand. Maybe beer is allowed, champagne and vermouth not allowed?

Be that as it may, I was just meditating about the condition of the Brazilian Stock Car championship. Although a local championship, a number of well known drivers of Formula 1 pedigree race in this championship, including Rubens Barrichello, Felipe Massa, Ricardo Zonta, Antonio Pizzonia, Lucas di Grassi and Nelson Piquet Jr. A large percentage of the grid is sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, mostly generic drug makers. This pattern began years ago, with the success of Medley.

This works in Brazil, it would not work in the US, for instance. Brazilians are prone to self-medication and buying medicines in pharmacy without prescription is a national pass time. In the US, you never even see the medicine’s packages for most prescriptions, generic or not: medicines are removed from boxes and placed in pharmacy containers. So generic drug makers have no reason to even thing about advertise. Of course, this does not apply to brand names such as Viagra, which most famously sponsored NASCAR cars. In fact, a lot of TV and magazine advertising these days is done by pharma companies, specially as TV audiences become older and older. The young set is leaving TV aside, after all.

Returning to the Brazilian Stock car championship, if the government does decide to curb or prohibit generic pharmaceutical companies advertising, the championship would be in a dire situation. Both this year’s champion and runner up (Daniel Serra and Felipe Fraga) are sponsored by pharma, in fact, Fraga’s team, Cimed, had no less than five cars in the Interlagos season closing event.

I have discussed the matter of sponsorship and money at length in my book Motor Racing in the 70`s – Pivoting from Romantic to Organized which can be bought here or in several amazon.com stores worldwide. I discuss the astounding wide variety of industries that sponsored racing endeavors back in that pioneering decade, and funny enough, pharmaceutical companies were not common at all. Things change. For the sake of Brazilian Stock Car, let us hope there is no advertising ban on generic drug makers. And let us hope not many thousand Brazilians die from improper self-medicating…   

Much more information about racing in the 70's can be found in my book MOTOR RACING IN THE 70'S - PIVOTING FROM ROMANTIC TO ORGANIZED. It is a 472-page book about racing in the period,  with 242 photos, covering Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 5000, other lower formulae, Formula Indy, NASCAR, Touring Cars, Sports Cars, Can Am, Trans Am, IMSA, DRM, local racing scenes, main driver profiles, plus long lists of makes that raced in the period, main drivers and racing venues from 85 countries, year highlights, performance and financial analysis of the sport. It can be bought at Amazon shops in the USA, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia, Japan, 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426    

What if Senna had never made it to Europe?

They say timing is everything. Sometimes timing is totally out of our control, so opportunities are lost, sublime talents wasted forever. When timing is perfect, “stars align”, things work out, talents reach fruition. The meritocracy idea that talented people always reach the top is bogus. 

History is a sum of intercalated past events, in different times and places that conspire to change the present and the future. So what we see and experience today had multiple roots in the past.

Thus, the fact that Ayrton Senna, a Brazilian driver, eventually made it to Europe and conquered Formula 1, inspiring future generations of drivers all over the world, took root in the timing of certain events in Brazil (and the world), back in the 70’s. The timing of such events was perfect, preceding the 1973 oil crisis and matching the height of the Brazilian “economic miracle”. The fact is, had the Brazilian racing scene remained sleepy, disorganized and stagnant until 1974, and attempts were made to go international in the midst of a crisis that greatly affected racing between 1974 and 1976, it is quite possible that Senna’s talents would have been wasted in the process.

These events, that happened between 1969 and 1972, opened the door for the likes of Senna to pursue racing abroad seriously, enabling drivers to secure sponsorship even in the midst of a very serious and long local economic crisis whose onset was 1974 and lasted through the 90’s. It should be remembered that by late 1974 Brazil already had a 2-time Formula 1 world champion, and ten years later, when Senna debuted in Formula 1, another driver had reached that same status. This series of events Brazilian opened to doors to other South Americans as well, for South American drivers (including Argentines) were a very rare sight in European race tracks during the 60’s, but as events unfolded, Uruguayans, Peruvians, Colombians, Ecuadorians, Chileans and Venezuelans also took a crack. In short, Emerson Fittipaldi’s success and quick rise to fame is the root of all this.

That prompted me to write a case study, Brazil from Footnote to Relevance in the course of three seasons, which discusses in detail what happened during these years, and sets the tone for internationalization. It required the right elements at the right time. The 80-page text is provided as a bonus to my book Motor Racing in the 70’s – Pivoting from Romantic to Organized, which can be bought at Amazon stores in USA, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Spain, Italy and Australia, or in the site motorracingbooks.com. The rest of the 382-page book deals with racing all over the world, with rare lists, statistics and information about all types of racing in the Americas, the Caribbean, Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia/New Zealand. Required reading for anybody who is really interested in racing history and Ayrton Senna.

  

Much more than meets the eyes

Most car of the world's motor racing literature is written in English. I would not dare pegging a percentage, but an educated guess is much more than 80%. Back in the 70's the percentage was  even higher, as publishing technology and markets were very restricted.

As a result, much of what you read about racing in the period covers the USA (plus Canada), Western Europe, South Africa and Australia/New  Zealand. That was pretty much what the British and American specialized media was covering these days in magazines, newspapers, books and annuals.

This gives a very wrong impression that racing was not taking place elsewhere in the world, especially in places where English was not spoken.

When I got the idea for my book Motor Racing in the 70s - Pivoting from Romantic to Organized, I would be doing what 99% of motoring writers had done when covering the period: focusing entirely on the major racing taking place in the SA (plus Canada), Western Europe, South Africa and Australia/New  Zealand.

Then I had an epiphany of sorts. Why write another book that concentrated on major racing, leaving out the all other wonderfully "romantic" racing taking place in South and Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe? It seemed unfair, given that the book was supposed to be a celebration of  the romantic racing being practiced in the area and comprehensive. I simply could not leave out the wonderful racing taking place in Argentina, the dozens upon dozens of venues around the world, races held in unlikely locations...Just writing about Formula 1, like hundreds of other books seemed to be a waste of time and money. Repeating the same old anecdotes you can read about in hundreds of Internet forums seemed unnecessary

Talking about world racing and leaving out the wonderful competitions and cars from Argentina - and dozens of other countries - seemed an unfair corruption of  history.
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I did not leave Formula 1 out. Instead, I picked out interesting bits and pieces, plus some specific statistics from the period. And did cover all the major championships.

The difference is in the details, the thousands of rare pieces of information concerning constructors, racing venues across the world (including hill climbs), the most significant drivers from seventy-two countries, some of which you had not idea held races way back then. Even from widely covered countries such as Britain, France, Italy, you will learn about categories long gone, certain makes you never imagined were involved in racing and find out about the local racing scenes of dozen of countries.   

There are also sections on money in the period's racing, sponsors, female drivers and short bios of the most striking personalities from the period, as well as an essay that discusses the pivoting that is the core idea of the book.

There is also a bonus section that covers in detail the development of Brazil as a force to be reckoned with, which left the status of footnote in 1969 to relevance in three seasons.

This is the ultimate reference on 70s racing, a must-have for any true enthusiast.

The book Motor Racing in the 70s - Pivoting from Romantic to Organized can be bought here

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426


 

 

Money in 70s Car Racing, Formula 1, NASCAR, Indy, Sports Cars, etc

Nowadays information about driver’s retainers, race earnings, the huge amounts some Formula 1 teams are paid, sponsorship deals seems public domain; $$$ are often featured in racing news stories. There are multiple reasons for that: public disclosure is required of public companies, a great part of the allure of motor racing these days seems pegged to the possibility of making large mounds of dollars, euros and pounds. Additionally, let us face it, we live in a very narcissistic world. Celebrities love to flaunt dough, and the sport has always been aligned with the idea of vast amounts of cash flying about. Buying a Ferrari to go racing in the 50s definitely cost more than buying soccer balls or swimming in lakes or buying cricket gear, after all.

I have conducted extensive research on car racing in the 70s, and to be honest, locating trustworthy and plentiful data has been challenging at best. People simply did not talk much about it, for reasons you may found out later. And some that do talk about it 40 years down the line perhaps embellish their stories a bit, and forget or add zeroes…

In my recently launched book Motor Racing in the 70s – Pivoting from Romantic to Organized, I discuss this very issue (and many others as well, such as sponsors), whenever possible contextualizing other economic data that will help readers assess what was really going on. You must also consider that a lot of published information does look awfully inconsistent, and some of the recollections from those active in the area often seem to have too many or lack some zeroes.

It does make for interesting reading and reflection.

If the subject interests you, make sure you get a copy of the book on Amazon.com today. Much more information about racing in the 70's can be found in my book MOTOR RACING IN THE 70'S - PIVOTING FROM ROMANTIC TO ORGANIZED. It is a 472-page book about racing in the period,  with 242 photos, covering Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 5000, other lower formulae, Formula Indy, NASCAR, Touring Cars, Sports Cars, Can Am, Trans Am, IMSA, DRM, local racing scenes, main driver profiles, plus long lists of makes that raced in the period, main drivers and racing venues from 85 countries, year highlights, performance and financial analysis of the sport. It can be bought at Amazon shops in the USA, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia, Japan, 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426

Motor Racing in the 70s finally out

My book Motor Racing in the 70s - Pivoting from Romantic to Organized is finally out. At present time, it can be bought through Amazon.com, but I am looking into ways to get wider distribution. Not that there are that many physical bookstores around, at least not in the USA.

I am pleased with the result. It ended up with 384 pages, and a much different product than what I first envisaged.

I wanted to write a much simpler year-by-year account, a shorter book. It developed into something larger, more analytical, although there are tons of statistics and interesting facts pertaining only to the 70s. In other words, you are not going to find the final results of Formula 1 races or even points tables. These can be found in lots of other places, including wikipedia The only Formula 1 statistics I have placed in the book relate specifically to the 70s, such as laps in the lead (cars and drivers), total starts during the decade, and things of the sort. There is plentiful other Formula 1 information in the highlights section.

I was very happy with how the list of champions turned out. Here you will find much more than lists of champions in better known series, such as Formula 1, Formula, 2, Can Am. I have compiled information on champions in several areas of the world, including Greece, Portugal, Central America, etc. The lists are not complete, but they are the most complete I have seen anywhere.

The list of venues is also rather extensive, including dozens of hill climb venues in Europe. I do not expect it to be complete at this stage, but it does list some rather obscure places in Africa, Central America, Asia and Eastern Europe.

The list of constructors is also extremely long including research done in over 10 languages. Again, I do not expect it to be complete, so future editions will definitely have improvements.

The list of significant drivers is obviously rather subjective. I would need more than a 384 page book to list drivers in U.S. races alone, if I were to include everybody that raced in the country during the decade - a rather Herculean, impossible and fruitless endeavor. Thus I decided to pick and choose the drivers I felt are more relevant from several dozen countries. Not everybody will agree with my picks, I reckon.

There are sections on money, sponsors, and a long essay on what I call the "Pivoting". I also saw it fit to publish a case study I wrote years ago, that shows how Brazil went from being a footnote in global racing circles to being respected and relevant, in the short span of 3 seasons. I know many people might not enjoy this section, for it is too specific and mentions names and situations that are totally foreign to most readers. To others, it will be interesting, a unique work on the subject in the English language. Cannot please everybody.

Given the amount of information, and the fact I wanted to provide this book at less than US$ 30.00, this is not a pictorial book. Future editions or offshots may have tons of pictures, not this time.

This will be the first of a series of books on the subject, almost an outline. I hope you enjoy it.

It can be bought at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426

Auto racing history and my problem with wikipedia

Wikipedia and I have a very tense relationship.

Let me explain.

As a racing history researcher, I find wikipedia to be wanting. For those that do not know the English expression, it means lacking, insufficient.

I began writing about racing history back in 2003, when even blogs were not yet the rage. I used to include texts on a site I had, called brazilyellowpages.com, which no longer exists as a standalone site (long story). There was no such a thing as wikipedia. And google was still a young company, looking for "partners" in the way of content builders.

So, when I began building my blogs in earnest, I had the ambition of building the largest depository of race results in the internet, or at least winners. I soon found several sites that had very good information, but I found copying all laboriously compiled information a bit sneaky simply. So I understood that I could present winners and let others do what they do well.

Unfortunately, Wikipedia has other thoughts. And search engines have other thoughts about anyone who is not wikipedia.

From a "content partner" who made US$ 350 a month from google ads, back in 2005, now, with an exponentially larger number of posts, google pays a pittance of US$ 100 every year and a half. I feel more like a slave than partner, to tell you the truth. That is when I decided to "migrate" away from the internet.

Enough about money. I was not doing this for the money, this is just to show how the presentation of information  has changed in the last 10, 12 years.

Search engines rank sites by popularity. Never mind the fact they might be wrong (and wikipedia has tons of mistakes), or that information is being stolen from bona fide authors without authorization. Yes, several of my early posts ended up in wikipedia as posts! At first, I would attempt to remove, then I gave up. I simply changed the way I write posts, so that they would be rendered useless as a wikipedia entry.

The fact is that search engines no longer "love" my site, the one I indicate below, or consider it relevant. Back on the day, google would include any new post within half an hour. Now, it may take a few days, and normally it appears in position 1267th.

So, here is the "Winner" section of my old blog. It helps you contextualize careers of former and current Formula 1 drivers, and find out a bit of detail about their early exploits It is free!.

Unfortunately, a lot of sites that had good, detailed information back in the early 2000s, have disappeared from the internet a long time ago. So much for relevance.

The link is as follows. Enjoy.

http://brazilexporters.com/blog//index.php?blog=8

If you are seriously interested on Motor Racing, specially the racing that took place in the 70's, my book Motor Racing in the 70s - Pivoting from Romantic to Organized is for you. Its 384 pages are full of rare pieces of information, much of it surprising for even very knowledgeable racing buffs, collected over 40 years. It lists very obscure racing venues in surprising countries, interesting highlights, a very thorough list of champions, articles and statistics from the main championships of the era, the main drivers from over 78 countries, in addition to the most comprehensive and diversified list of 70's marques ever published. The difference is that the research for this book was conducted in over 10 languages, which gave the author access to information rarely consulted and included. For US$ 29.99 (even less, with discounts granted by Amazon, currently US$ 26.76) , you will be getting a lot of reference, and hours and hours of interesting reading. THIS INFORMATION IS AND WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED ON
TO BUY MY BOOK Click here https://www.amazon.com/Motor-Racing-70s-Pivoting-Organized/dp/1732674426 

Incidentally, Wikipedia contributed very little in terms of information.